South Africa's Makhaya Ntini keeps his head dry from a rainstorm during a nets session at Lord's yesterday. South Africa play England in the first Test at the ground today. - AP

LONDON (AP):

ENGLAND'S FIRST Test against South Africa starts today at Lord's with the outcome likely to hinge on which of the contrasting bowling attacks best comes to terms with the conditions.

With rain dampening the field yesterday and forecast to last much of the next five days, England's swing bowlers may be expected to come out on top, but the home batsmen are about to come up against the sort of pace they have not faced in a while.

Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel will line up alongside Makhaya Ntini in an attack already drawing com-parisons with the great West Indies pacemen of the 1980s, when Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh terrorised batsmen to establish their team as the best in the world.

"I certainly think there is potential for them to be like that," South Africa coach Mickey Arthur said. "They have got a long way to go, but these guys are hugely exciting. It really is going to be a treat to watch them bowl this summer."

England are coming off a resounding Test series win over New Zealand, but Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell are struggling for runs and are likely to be targeted by an intimidatingly well-balanced bowling attack.

Ntini took 10 wickets at Lord's on South Africa's last tour in 2003, while allrounder Jacques Kallis and slow left-armer Paul Harris fill out the other places.

Huge achievement

The home side will be looking to opener Andrew Strauss to find some of the form he showed in the winter of 2004-05 when he stuck 656 runs in five Tests in South Africa - a huge achievement for a player on his first overseas tour.

"More pace on the ball provides more opportunities as well, because you need less of a bat on it for it to go to the boundary," Strauss said. "If they bowl well it's going to be hard work, but if they are slightly off line, there may well be more opportunities to score."

And crucial to South Africa's performance will be how the young pair of Steyn and Morkel cope with expectations. The 23-year-old Morkel has played just six Tests.

"Our management of them has been huge in this last week; making sure they are not overawed by the occasion, by walking on to Lord's," Arthur said. "How they handle all the media hype around them is going to be pretty defining, certainly in the first Test match.

"But I'm confident they are two pretty levelheaded guys - and they'll be fine."

What it all means is that if England starts looking too far ahead toward next year's Ashes series against Australia, South Africa are in a prime position to take advantage.

"England are probably where we were a year ago," Arthur said. "They aren't quite as settled as we are at the moment, but they are a very good team, and incredibly hard to beat at home."

Settled, however, is exactly what England are. In announcing the team yesterday, England became the first side ever to name an unchanged line-up for six straight Test matches.